Blog:

THE ADVENTURES OF A BACH BUILD: PART 19 – NOT ALL PLANS WORK OUT AS INTENDED

The reality was, we couldn’t spend the week of the school holidays at the bach. It was just too incomplete. And we needed to be out of the way so the guys on site could get their work done. Although disappointed, we had to be practical, there was still too much going on on-site that, not only would we have gotten in the way, it wouldn’t have been the quiet and relaxing (and dust free!!) break we wanted. Essentially it was still a building site.

We did however, have a lot of gear that needed to be up in Hanmer so the build could be finished. So instead of a whole week, we took a load of furniture up and stayed overnight.

And it was great! It was a cross between a building site and a camping ground! Sitting back and appreciating the end result was pretty cool. We relived the design process and scrutinized every decision and deviation we had made. Were we happy with the final product?

Absolutely!!

Sure, it wasn’t finished and we weren’t at the stage we thought we would be, but we appreciated the small victories. Yes, we had wanted to spend a week of the school holidays relaxing at the bach and that hadn’t happened. But, we did spend the night there and could now really begin to imagine what our future holidays will be like in the space.

There was one thing missing though, there was no ‘WOW Moment’! We didn’t walk in the front door to a completed space. The bach was still noticeably unfinished; the contractors working in the kitchen were a dead giveaway! We decided that we are not going to stay overnight again until we have reached the end. Until the contractors have gone, the curtains are hung, our pictures are adorning the walls and the pantry is full! We want to enjoy at least half a ‘WOW Moment’!

And now, a couple of weeks after the school holidays, the bach is still somewhat of a building site. We’ve even had some of the contractors stay there as we haven’t been able to book other accommodation in time. That has been weird! Popping in to visit our bach and having other people’s clothes hanging up in the wardrobe – the wardrobe you haven’t had a chance to hang anything in – is just a bit odd!

The reality of building is that things don’t always work out as planned, it doesn’t matter how prepared you are at the beginning, there are always unforeseen factors that can affect the timeline. And unfortunately, there is not a lot you can do! At this stage, we just have to wait it out, hope that the weather will be on our side and that by the time Queen’s Birthday weekend rolls around we will be able to spend the weekend at the bach in its completed form!

As we wait for the final product to be complete, we reflect on the whole purpose of building the bach. Spending Summer holidays relaxing with family and friends, popping up to Hanmer for sneaky weekend getaways, our girls bringing their friends and eventually their own families to holiday there. All of this is what is important, not that we didn’t get in to the bach as soon as we had hoped. There is still a lifetime of memories to be made, we just have to wait a little longer!